Kate Foster's blog

The United States Department of Agriculture has recently released two resources that may be of interest to RAPP blog subscribers: Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Compass Tool and Regional Food Hub Resource Guide.

Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Compass

March in Vermont is typically anything but ideal for production. Yet New Farms for New Americans did not let the cold stop their efforts to train growers or start producing crops.

Are your organizational skills and attention to detail the best they could be? Do you have a systemized way of keeping records about clients, volunteers, and donors?  Maybe you keep records in multiple files on your computer. When a funder or partner asks for a report about your clients, volunteers, and donors, it may be difficult to locate the information you need quickly. Presenting the information you find in a coherent way can be even more time consuming. Do you maintain full composure when meeting these demands or do you more often than not find yourself feeling like this:

Meet Osman, Damanti, Seynab and Batula. These four farmers have not lived in the United States for a long period of time. Yet all are already achieving much success in farm business venture management thanks to the support of three RAPP projects:  the International Institute of St. Louis, the International Institute of New Hampshire, and Cultivating Community.

Osman

One of the highlights from the December RAPP conference was seeing IRC’S aquaponics system. With little more than pvc pipes, fish tanks, rocks, plywood, and a water pump contained in an urban greenhouse, 12 hydroponic vegetable beds are watered while 1,400 small tilapia are simultaneously raised for harvesting. This type of innovative water system is not all that difficult to assemble yet creates a symbiotic growing system in which ammonia from the waste of the fish is converted to nitrates which the plants absorb.

The following pictures were taken at the Refugee Agriculture Partnership Program Workshop hosted this year by the International Rescue Committee of San Diego December 15-17, 2011.

Larry Laverentz of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (above) and Hugh Joseph of ISED Solutions (below) manage the RAPP program and oversee the annual workshop.

Join ISED Solutions and the Office of Refugee Resettlement along with IRC San Diego for

An Educational and Strategic Planning Conference Focused on Refugee & Immigrant Urban Agriculture and Beginning Farmer Programming

By Glen Hill, Minnesota Food Association

Roderigo Cala pictured with his squash

Read more for ten descriptions of grant opportunities in agriculture, nutrition, gardening, and refugee services upcoming in the future. Deadlines for application submission along with links to more information are included.

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By Timothy Olorunfemi

October 20, 2011

Program Coordinator Timothy  Olorunfemi giving technical assistance on Soil Amendment in honor of World Food Day